There
are two basic theories (with numerous variations) surrounding
the creation of good luck for the next month, the Rabbit
/ Rabbit / Rabbit theory and the competing White Rabbit
/ White Rabbit / White Rabbit Theory. Or is it "Bad
Rabbit" from England?

This was a big controversy
at the Lab (and indeed persists around the world) as the
theories are not only competing, but also mutually
exclusive. Is it good luck to repeat (like a mantra)
the phrase Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit as your
first words on the first day of the month, or should one
say White Rabbit, White Rabbit, White Rabbit ...
Or the Last utterance? And
why does anyone care? Why Indeed?

Is
it carnivorous (stealing
others' luck) or gentle (getting
better luck)? Izzy think
it sounds like transliterated Hebrew, meaning "month
abundant" or more simply "(have
a) great month". Jan has
proposed no fewer than 10 Rules! A Flemish
Giant buck rabbit ties it into Watership Down. Kevin writes
of a tradition in the US military. Ted quotes
Shakespeare. Heather will
send you monthly Alerts.

It is quite amazing, but
a lot do care! Check out these Rabid Rabbiters ...
Really, if you don't find this fascinating, even alien,
you just might be dead.

How Old is This Thing? More
than I bet you thought! Pat in
Springfield MA tells of "a girl who worked in our
office at that time who practiced the tradition since the
early forties". Daylefirst
heard about this sweet superstition at sleep-away summer
camp in Maine about 35 years ago. Peg tells
of her mother using it as a child in the late 1800's in
Kentucky! Gerald dates
it from England before 1918, and suspects it came over
from Normandy with William I. Dick believes
his father (age 86 in 2001) got it from an uncle
in 1922, and the uncle caught it in the First World War.

Location?Okinawans suspect
it originated in New Zealand. Rostall heard
of it as a young child in Spain. A
Massachusetts man in Hawaiiwas
introduced to the concept in Athens Greece from a woman
from St Louis in 1972. Many strands trace it to England. Jenni in
Yorkshire UK says "White Rabbits, White Rabbits, Rabbits,
Rabbits, White Rabbits", while her mother also in
Yorkshire said White Rabbits just twice at New Year.